


Advice

by BandGeek727



Category: Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: F/M, Friendship, High School, M/M, Relationship Advice, Teen Romance, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 23:50:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21024266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BandGeek727/pseuds/BandGeek727
Summary: Davis thinks he might like someone, but he’s not sure, so he asks his former crush for advice.





	1. Advice

“Hi Davis!”

“Oh… hey, Kari.”

Kari plopped down on the bench next to her friend, noticing he seemed unusually subdued. Davis normally radiated boundless energy, but now he was just sitting still and silent, staring at his shoes.

“Something wrong?”

Davis was silent for a moment. “Can I ask you something?” he finally said.

“Of course!”

“How… how did you know, that… that TK was… well, um, the guy for you?”

Kari blinked. Of all the things she could have expected Davis to ask her, that was the last one. It was the first time she’d heard Davis openly acknowledge her relationship with the blonde. Davis was a nice guy, but she’d never felt for him the way she felt for TK. Davis’ persistence had been a bit annoying… Although she had to admit, to his credit, that he did eventually seem to take the hint, because he hadn’t actively made a move on her for quite some time. Now that she thought about it… When had he stopped pursuing her, and why…?

“Why do you ask?” she asked, a little more defensively than she’d intended, and she mentally scolded herself.

Davis glanced back at the ground, tugging absently on his wristband. “Well… I think… I think I might have… feelings for someone.”

Kari’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah?” She briefly wondered who Davis might have feelings for, but that was his business.

“But I just… I don’t know. I’m so confused, and I just thought… You guys are so perfect together, I guess… I just kinda wondered, how- how you do it.”

This was not the direction Kari had expected this conversation to take. For a fleeting moment she wondered if this was some sort of ploy on Davis’ part to try and win her back, but the look he was giving her… Davis had never been good at hiding his emotions, and he looked so lost and desperate. He really must need some advice.

Kari looked down at her hands and thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully. She wanted to do his question justice.

“Well… TK’s my best friend. We’ve always understood each other so well, and when we spend time together it doesn’t really matter what we’re doing. I’m just happy to be with him.”

The heat in her face had risen considerably by the time she finished speaking. It felt so weird to be talking about her boyfriend to the guy who’d carried a torch for her for so long. But when she glanced back at Davis there was none of the jealousy she was used to seeing. He was nodding intently, like she’d just spoken some kind of universal truth.

Her blush deepened and she shook her head. “I know it’s different for everyone. What works for me might not work for you. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful…”

But Davis didn’t even seem to be listening anymore. He was staring off into the distance, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

Kari leaned forward. “Davis…?”

“Hmm?” The gogglehead turned back to her. “Oh… No, you were super helpful! Yeah, that helped a lot.”

He was grinning now, his usual high energy exuding from him. Kari giggled. “Well, I’m glad.”

Davis nodded enthusiastically. “So, yeah, thanks! Hey, I’ll see you around!” And with that he got up, ruffled her hair, and took off.

Kari stared after him as she reached up to smooth down her hair. That was the kind of thing you did to your friends, or your siblings… not to someone you had a crush on. His feelings for her must really be gone, and from the sound of it there was someone else he really liked. Once more Kari found herself wondering who it could be…

As she watched Davis’ retreating form, Kari smiled lightly. Knowing how forward Davis could be, she’d find out soon enough.


	2. Assistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe asking his last crush for help with his current crush is a little weird, but Kari had such good advice for him, Davis is hoping she can help him with the next part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn’t intending for this to have a part 2, but ackbang said he wanted to know what happened next, and I was inspired.
> 
> I also call this The One Where I Basically Use Kari as an Author Avatar because why the crap not.
> 
> …Also writing this made me realize that I find the idea of Davis becoming Kari’s gay best friend ridiculously adorable.

“Hey, Kari!”

Kari turned to see Davis running towards her, his briefcase swinging from one hand, the other raised in greeting. His sky blue high school blazer was unbuttoned, the pressed white shirt underneath untucked, and his tie was loose, and for a moment Kari was forcibly reminded of her brother.

She smiled and slowed down so he could catch up. “Hi Davis! What’s up?”

Davis fell in step beside her. “Ah, well… actually, I could use your help with something.”

“Oh, yeah? What is it?”

He suddenly seemed nervous, looking anywhere but directly at her and rubbing the back of his neck. It occurred to her that she’d seen him look this anxious just recently.

“Does this have anything to do with what we talked about last week?”

“Maaaaybe.” He caught her eye and grinned sheepishly. “Okay, yes.”

Kari giggled. It was hard not to find Davis endearing sometimes, especially now that she had to look down at him. Aside from Cody, she and Davis had once been tied for the shortest member of their group. Now she had a few inches on him, and Cody was really starting to shoot up. TK and Ken were still vying for the position of tallest, though Yolei could almost match them both.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said,” Davis was saying. “And, um… I-I realized, that… I do have feelings for this person.” He was blushing furiously and couldn’t quite look her in the eye, and his voice was uncharacteristically soft. “And, well, I guess I was just… uh, wondering if you could help me figure out h-how to… ask them out? I mean cause you just had such good advice last time!”

It was kind of a weird request, considering how hard Davis had once tried to get her to go out with him. But then, Davis was her friend. He really didn’t seem to harbor those kinds of feelings for her anymore, and if it wasn’t too uncomfortable for him to ask she could certainly help him out.

“Of course! So, who is it?”

Kari wasn’t expecting Davis to clam up at that. It seemed a simple enough question, but if anything his blush had only deepened and he was staring at the ground.

“Is it someone I know?” Hard to imagine Davis would get this embarrassed about a random person. Davis nodded but still didn’t say anything.

Well, Kari had always been exceptionally patient, and as she waited for him to speak she began mentally running through all the people she knew. Could it be Yolei? The two were often at each other’s throats, but they were both really passionate, energetic people. Mimi, maybe? Davis had visited her in New York a few times now, and he always seemed to come back from those trips in high spirits. And there was a girl from the first group of digidestined in New York, though Kari couldn’t remember her name… Maybe she…

“I-it’s Ken.”

Kari blinked. Well – she supposed it did make sense. The two were inseparable, ever since they first DNA Digivolved. Davis was so protective of Ken, so really, his answer shouldn’t have surprised her as much as it did.

Davis was side eyeing her, his expression guarded, and she quickly put on a smile so he wouldn’t mistake her surprise for something else. “That’s great, Davis!”

Davis frowned. “Is it? He’s my best friend, and if I screw this up… I mean, what if he doesn’t feel the same way? I could ruin everything, and I just… I can’t lose him.”

His shoulders were hunched, his gaze downcast. Kari wasn’t used to hearing Davis sound so vulnerable. Davis wasn’t afraid of anything; when he wanted something he went for it, passionately, and things seemed to turn out well for him far more often than not. And he and Ken cared about each other so much… Surely in this case the risk wasn’t so great it would outweigh the benefits?

Although she couldn’t really talk. She and TK had cared about each other for so long, and everyone had seen it, and it had still taken them forever to admit how they felt about each other.

“But what if he does feel the same way? Then you could both be so happy!”

Davis sighed heavily, jamming his free hand in his pocket. “You’re right, I just… I guess I’m just scared.” He laughed weakly. “Some bearer of the Crest of Courage I am, huh?”

“Davis…” Kari watched him with sympathy. They’d all felt like they betrayed their crests at one point or another, every one of them. Her face brightened as a thought occurred to her. “Hey, if you want, I could talk to him for you! You know, ask him about you, find out how he feels.”

Davis looked absolutely mortified. “Kari, just… no way, that’s… geez, that’s so middle school.”

Kari had to resist the urge to roll her eyes and point out that middle school hadn’t been that long ago.

“A-anyway, I feel like I need to be the one to tell him first.”

“So what do you need my help with?”

Davis’ hands twisted around the handle of his briefcase. Finally he took a deep breath and turned to her, his words coming out in a rush, as if he was trying to make himself say them before he changed his mind.

“Okay I know this is gonna sound weird, but, uh, how did TK ask you out?”

He was blushing and cringing away from her, grinning in a way that was almost apologetic. She felt her face heat up as well; this was weird.

“Why didn’t you ask him?”

“It’s, uh, easier to talk to you.”

Kari watched as Davis blushed and stammered and fidgeted with his tie. If this was “easier” she didn’t want to know how he thought it would go if he tried to talk to TK.

Then again, Davis had known her longer. Whatever awkwardness he might feel about soliciting his previous crush’s help in pursuing his current crush was outweighed by their shared history.

“Well… he asked if I wanted to go for a walk, so we got some ice cream and went down to the park and he told me how he felt about me,” she said, smiling at the memory. “He asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend, and I said yes, and then we sat and talked for a while before he walked me home.”

It had been a nice day. They were already so comfortable, so familiar with each other that the more they talked, the easier it became to say all the things they’d both kept inside for years, and when he reached for her hand on the way home it had just felt natural.

Kari looked up, and her smile faded when she saw that Davis was just staring at her. “What?”

“That’s it?”

Kari blinked. “Well, yeah…”

Davis threw his hands up. “C’mon Kari, I need ideas! I can’t just ask Ken to go somewhere so we can just talk, we do that all the time! This has to big, it has to be special!”

Kari let out an exasperated sigh. Trust Davis to want something grandiose, he never did anything halfway. But TK was her first and only boyfriend, they’d only just started going out. She had no other experiences, no points of reference, and even among their friends the only others she could think of who did have a lot of experience were Matt and Sora. Besides, she liked how TK had asked her out, it had felt really personal and Kari was a quiet person anyway.

“I don’t know what else to say. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful…”

Davis glanced over at her and his expression softened. “Oh, hey, listen, don’t worry about it! Just… if you do think of anything else, let me know, okay?”

Kari wasn’t sure what kind of bolt of romantic inspiration Davis might be expecting her to get, but it was just easier for her to nod anyway. “I will.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Oh, and by the way, you cannot tell TP about this.”

“What? Why not?”

Davis stopped in his tracks and turned to stare at her with wide, panicked eyes. “I don’t want this gettin’ around to a bunch of people, and then Ken somehow findin’ out before I can talk to him! I’m tellin’ you because I trust you, but you can’t tell anyone else. Not TJ, not Ken, not _Yolei…_ Not _anybody!_ Promise?”

Kari sighed. Davis could be so melodramatic sometimes.

“I promise.”

–

For the next week Kari decided that if she wasn’t allowed to ask Ken directly, she’d at least observe him. See how he acted around Davis. Maybe she could find out something that would be helpful.

And the more she watched, the more surprised she was that she hadn’t noticed sooner.

Well, maybe she shouldn’t have been so surprised. Ken was quiet and reserved, and very good at keeping his emotions to himself. Stand him next to Davis, and it was even easier to miss the nuances in his demeanor. Davis was loud and expressive and made everyone within a ten-mile radius instantly aware of whatever he was feeling. Ken kept his expressions tightly controlled, and if you weren’t looking closely you could easily miss what he was feeling.

But if she looked closer, Kari noticed how Ken was always more relaxed if Davis was nearby. He smiled more easily and spoke more freely, and if they were all together in a group he just gravitated to Davis’ side. He lit up whenever he saw Davis. Not the way Davis lit up whenever he saw Ken, all bright smiles and cheerful waves, like Ken was the most important person in the world (Kari was seriously starting to wonder how she hadn’t noticed any of this before), but still – Ken’s reaction was basically the same, like his day had suddenly just gotten a million times better now that Davis was there.

Kari kept her promise not to speak to Ken directly. She failed, however, at not telling TK, because after a week TK started asking her why she was creeping on Ken, and she instantly caved and told him everything. It wasn’t like TK was much for gossip, she reasoned, and having an extra set of eyes proved beneficial to her case, because when he started watching even TK agreed that yeah, there was definitely something there on Ken’s part.

So that Friday at lunch Kari turned her desk around and pushed it up against Davis’, folding her arms and leaning forward in a business-like way as Davis watched her from over his noodles.

“So, listen,” she said without preamble. “I’ve been thinking about what we talked about, and I really think that if you’re gonna go for it with Ken, the best thing to do is just be honest with him.”

Davis paused mid-chew and raised an eyebrow at her.

Kari leaned forward across her desk, gesturing vaguely as if that would help illustrate her point. “I mean, don’t feel like you have to go overboard or do anything fancy. Don’t think about it too hard. Just… speak from your heart. Tell him how you feel. You’ll know the right words to say.”

Davis swallowed and seemed to consider this for a moment. “Just like that. It’s really that simple?”

Kari nodded. “I really think that would be your best bet, yes.” And then, just for good measure, she added, “Hey, that’s basically what TK and I did, and just look at us!”

Davis glanced down at his desk. He was quiet for a moment, but when he looked up at her that bright grin of his was back in place.

“Okay!”

–

It was almost the end of July, and Kari decided to hold a party for the second-generation digidestined to celebrate the end of the term.

Davis was horribly awkward from the moment he arrived. He got flustered and nervous as soon as he saw Ken, stammered around him the entire night, and when Ken’s hand accidently brushed his as they both reached for more chips his face turned as red as his hair.

Kari couldn’t help giggling at him from behind her hand. He caught her eye a few times and sent her “please stop laughing at my pain” looks, to which she could only smile apologetically.

They ended up sitting around the living room table, where Davis produced a pack of playing cards, and Kari had to resist a sudden very strong urge to suggest they play strip Poker.

They ended up just playing regular Poker instead, betting with the snacks. After a few hands the game sort of petered out, and TK and Yolei got into a mild debate about what they should watch on TV. They finally settled on an old American action film. Kari wasn’t all that interested in it, but it gave her an excuse to curl up on the couch against TK while Yolei and Poromon discussed the historical and artistic merits of the film. Cody knelt in front of the TV, bouncing Upamon gently on his lap. Gatomon and Patamon had retreated under the table and were having what seemed to be a very serious discussion in hushed tones. Demiveemon and Minomon had curled up together on the couch opposite Yolei.

Seeing them made Kari realize… Davis and Ken had disappeared. She sat up, lifting her head from TK’s shoulder and glancing around in time to see Davis lead Ken out onto the balcony, sliding the glass door shut behind them.

Ooh, this looked even more promising than the movie. Kari settled back against TK and watched the scene unfold. Ken stepped up to the edge of the balcony and folded his arms over the railing to look out across the city. Davis joined him, gripping the railing hard. Kari couldn’t see his face or hear what he was saying, but after a moment Ken turned to face him. Davis’ head was bowed and his shoulders were hunched. Ken watched his partner, still and silent, and suddenly his eyes widened. He brought one hand up to hover in front of his lips, a light blush dusting his cheeks. He said something, and as he spoke he lowered his gaze and twisted his hands in front of his chest.

Kari had no way of telling what he’d just said, but whatever it was Davis’ reaction told her pretty much everything she needed to know. His head shot up and he stared at Ken for a moment before a wide grin lit up his face. He reached out and took one of Ken’s shaking hands in his. Ken stiffened, staring down at their hands, before slowly lacing his fingers through Davis’. Davis hesitated for just a moment, and then he got up on tiptoes and placed his free hand on Ken’s shoulder, his eyes sliding shut just before he brought their lips together.

Kari latched on to TK’s arm, shaking it excitedly. “Ooh, TK look, he’s going for it!”

Some part of her felt a little guilty for watching this, but it was outweighed by how happy she felt for the both of them. And okay, so maybe it was a little weird for Kari to be spying on the last kid who’d had a crush on her, secretly cheering him on as he made a move on his new crush.

Then again, she supposed, their group had always been a little weird.  
And she had a feeling none of them would have it any other way.


End file.
